


Mercury Poisoning

by Send_help_im_drowning



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25786300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Send_help_im_drowning/pseuds/Send_help_im_drowning
Summary: Arabella Castellan has been abroad since Camp Jupiter turned Saturn's palace to rubble and defeated his armies. After settling in at the Wilderness School and befriending two half-bloods, what happens when her praetor turns up without memories, a faun gets sucked into the sky, and an angry peacock goddess forces her to keep quiet about... well, everything?
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Original Female Character(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Piper McLean/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

When my best-friend-slash-crush-for-seven-years Jason Grace showed up on our bus during my nap, I was severely confused. He hadn't told me he'd come to visit, and he'd never been good at manipulating the Mist, so I didn't see how Piper - who, mind you, was into girls - was so calm about holding his hand.

A pang of guilt stabbed me, Jason's presence reminding me that I'd left him and Reyna alone to carry on at camp without their lead strategist, and without giving out new blessings for quests - both of those things were my job, as a child of Mercury. Even more guilt clawed its way up my throat as I thought about about why I'd even left.

 _Kai_...

I took a moment to calm my breathing, and turned around, looking past Leo - tinkering, as usual, with little trinkets out of his army coat pockets, typical for a Vulcan kid - to see Jason waking up. He looked around, confused, and glanced at me, but his eyes were blank - like he didn't recognize me.

 _He doesn't,_ a female voice in my head said as Jason kept scanning around the bus. _And you cannot tell him, my child._

 _A_ lump formed in my throat. _But he's my best friend,_ I complained.

 _Yes, but this is necessary._ A pause. _Swear to me on the river Styx that you will not reveal anything of his past, or of Camp Jupiter, until I release you from this silence._

I wanted to protest, but I knew that arguing with a goddess would not be good for my health, so I did as she asked.

Piper seemed to finally notice Jason's expression. “Jason, you okay?”  
  
She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup, as she was trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn’t work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope - brown, blue, and green. I was pretty certain she was a Venus kid.  
  
Jason let go of her hand. “Um, I don’t-”  
  
In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, “All right, cupcakes, listen up!”  
  
The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so you could just see his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face, like he’d eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would’ve looked pretty scary if he hadn’t been five feet zero. When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, “Stand up, Coach Hedge!”  
  
“I heard that!” The coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on Jason, and his scowl deepened.  
  
I was sure the coach knew Jason was new here. I was almost certain, from the way the guy walked, that he was a faun. What he was doing here, I had no idea, but since I hadn't recognized him from Camp Jupiter, I hadn't spoken to him about it yet, for fear he was a regular mortal and I'd get sent to an asylum.

Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. “We’ll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don’t lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way.”  
  
He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.  
  
Jason looked at Piper. “Can he talk to us that way?”  
  
She shrugged. “Always does. This is the Wilderness School. ‘Where kids are the animals.’”  
  
Jason just blinked at our inside joke.  
  
“This is some kind of mistake,” Jason said. “I’m not supposed to be here.”  
  
Leo turned to him and laughed. “Yeah, right, Jason. We’ve all been framed! I didn’t run away six times. Piper didn’t steal a BMW. Lord knows what Arabella's done, she refuses to tell.”  
  
Piper was blushing - hard. “I didn’t steal that car, Leo!”  
  
“Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You ‘talked’ the dealer into lending it to you?” He raised his eyebrows at Jason like, _Can you believe her?_

Once again, Jason just blinked.  
  
“Anyway,” Leo said, “I hope you’ve got your worksheet, ’cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?”  
  
“I don’t know you,” Jason said.  
  
Leo gave him a crocodile grin. “Sure. I’m not your best friend. I’m his evil clone.”  
  
“Leo Valdez!” Coach Hedge yelled from the front. “Problem back there?”  
  
Leo winked at Jason. “Watch this.” He turned to the front. “Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?”  
  
Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader’s. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: “The cow says moo!”  
  
The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. “Valdez!”  
  
Piper stifled a laugh. “My god, Leo. How did you do that?”  
  
Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve. “I’m a special boy.”  
  
“Guys, seriously,” Jason pleaded. “What am I doing here? Where are we going?”  
  
Piper knit her eyebrows. “Jason, are you joking?”  
  
“No! I have no idea-”  
  
“Aw, yeah, he’s joking,” Leo said. “He’s trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren’t you?”  
  
Jason stared at him blankly.  
  
“No, I think he’s serious," I put in, partially because I didn't want to be too quiet - it'd be suspicious - and partially because I felt protective. Even if I was under divine orders not to reveal stuff, there had to be a way for Jason to get his memories back.

I couldn't lose him.

Piper tried to take his hand again, but he pulled it away.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t- I can’t-”  
  
“That’s it!” Coach Hedge yelled from the front. “The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!”  
  
The rest of the kids cheered.

“There’s a shocker,” Leo muttered.  
  
But Piper kept her eyes on Jason, like she couldn’t decide whether to be hurt or worried. “Did you hit your head or something? You really don’t know who we are?”  
  
Jason shrugged helplessly. “It’s worse than that. I don’t know who I am.”  
  
The bus dropped us in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere.

Jason's windbreaker couldn't have been warm enough, but I now had a clear view of what he was wearing, and my heart broke - he was still wearing his purple Camp Jupiter shirt. I played with my hugely oversized sweater, and realized with a start that this was one of the many items of clothing I'd stolen from Jason. He'd never minded, and I loved oversized stuff, so I was always taking his shirts and hoodies back home.

 _Home_. Gods, I'd do anything for Jason to be home safely, playing stupid board games with Reyna and me to pass the time in between duties, stargazing at night when he'd be unable to sleep, all kinds of traditions from when we were just little kids that we kept growing up at Camp.

“So, a crash course for the amnesiac,” Leo spoke up, in a helpful tone that made me think this was not going to be helpful. “We go to the ‘Wilderness School’” - Leo made air quotes with his fingers. “Which means we’re ‘bad kids.’ Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison - sorry, ‘boarding school’ - in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on ‘educational’ field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?”  
  
“No.” Jason glanced apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty guys, half that many girls. To be fair, none of them looked like criminals, and most of them were just annoying, but everyone had done something to get in here - besides me, but waiting for the right time to recruit new half-bloods to send to Lupa is a different story.  
  
Leo rolled his eyes. “You’re really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the four of us started here together this semester. We’re totally tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores-”  
  
“Leo!” I snapped, annoyed with my own emotions.  
  
“Fine. Ignore that last part. But we are friends. Well, Piper’s a little more than your friend, the last few weeks-”  
  
“Leo, stop it!” Piper’s face turned red.  
  
“He’s got amnesia or something,” she said. “We’ve got to tell somebody.”  
  
Leo scoffed. “Who, Coach Hedge? He’d try to fix Jason by whacking him upside the head.”  
  
The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he’d glance back at Jason and scowl.  
  
“Leo, Jason needs help,” Piper insisted. “He’s got a concussion or-”  
  
“Yo, Piper.” One of the other guys dropped back to join us as the group was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Jason and Piper and knocked Leo down. “Don’t talk to these bottom-feeders. You’re my partner, remember?”  
  
The new guy had dark hair cut Superman style, a deep tan, and teeth so white they should’ve come with a warning label: _do not stare directly at teeth. permanent blindness may occur_. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was the gods' gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. I couldn't stand the guy.  
  
“Go away, Dylan,” Piper grumbled. “I didn’t ask to work with you.”  
  
“Ah, that’s no way to be. This is your lucky day!” Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look at me over her shoulder like, _911_.  
  
Leo got up and brushed himself off. “I hate that guy.” He offered me his arm, like we should go skipping inside together. “‘I’m Dylan. I’m so cool, I want to date myself, but I can’t figure out how! You want to date me instead? You’re so lucky!’”  
  
“Leo,” Jason said, “you’re weird.”  
  
“Yeah, you tell me that a lot.” Leo grinned. “But if you don’t remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!”  
  
We walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his megaphone, which alternately made him sound like a Sith Lord or blared out random comments like “The pig says oink.”  
  
Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners from the pockets of his army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands busy at all times.  
  
I was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibits, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which owned the museum.  
  
The popular clique kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party.  
  
One of them said, “Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?”  
  
The other girls laughed. Even Piper’s so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper’s snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands, but I knew she was clenching her fists.  
  
“My dad’s Cherokee,” she said. “Not Hualapai. ’Course, you’d need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel.”  
  
Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked like an owl with a makeup addiction. “Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that’s right. You never knew your mom.”

Venus had better claim this kid as soon as we get to Camp. Gods know Piper has been through enough with her dad sending her here.

Piper charged her, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, “Enough back there! Set a good example or I’ll break out my baseball bat!”  
  
The group shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper.  
  
“Good to be back on the rez?” one asked in a sweet voice.  
  
“Dad’s probably too drunk to work,” another said with fake sympathy. “That’s why she turned klepto.”

Piper ignored them, but by the gods, if it weren't for Imperial Gold not harming mortals, I'd have had a bunch of blood on my hands right now - literally.  
  
Leo caught Jason's arm. “Be cool. Piper doesn’t like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they’d be all bowing down to her and screaming, ‘We’re not worthy!’”  
  
“Why? What about her dad?”  
  
Leo laughed in disbelief. “You’re not kidding? You really don’t remember that your girlfriend’s dad-”  
  
“Look, I wish I did, but I don’t even remember her, much less her dad.”

Leo whistled. “Whatever. We have to talk when we get back to the dorm.”  
  
We reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.  
  
“All right, cupcakes,” Coach Hedge announced. “You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork.”  
  
The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.  
  
“Man,” Leo said. “That’s pretty wicked.”

I had to agree.  
  
The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. We were up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while they’d been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Jason could see in any direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some god had taken a knife to it.

Jason doubled over, wincing hard.

"Jay, you alright?' I rushed to him, but he only winced harder when I called him that nickname. _Could it be from the memory loss stuff?_ I wondered briefly.

“You’re not going to throw up over the side, are you? ’Cause I should’ve brought my camera.” I punched Leo in the arm for that one.  
  
Jason grabbed the railing. “I’m fine,” he managed. “Just a headache.”  
  
Thunder rumbled overhead. A cold wind almost knocked me sideways.  
  
“This can’t be safe.” Leo squinted at the clouds. “Storm’s right over us, but it’s clear all the way around. Weird, huh?”  
  
I looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear - basically an XXL portion of _Not Good_.

“All right, cupcakes!” Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him too. “We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!”  
  
The storm rumbled, and Jason reached into his jeans pocket and brought out a coin - Julius, his weapon in disguise. I smiled a little - if he could bring it out on instinct, he could hopefully still fight on instinct.  
  
“Dang, is that gold?” Leo asked. “You been holding out on me!”  
  
Jason put the coin away, and I fidgeted with the handle of one of my twin daggers, which were both hidden underneath my long sleeves, strapped to my forearms.  
  
“It’s nothing,” Jason said. “Just a coin.”  
  
Leo shrugged. “Come on,” he said. “Dare you to spit over the edge.”  
  
We didn’t try very hard on the worksheet. For one thing, Jason was too distracted by everything, and I was too caught up in my emotions.. For another thing, neither of us had any idea how to “name three sedimentary strata you observe” or “describe two examples of erosion.”  
  
Leo was no help. He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.  
  
“Check it out.” He launched the copter. To Jason's obvious surprise, the pipe-cleaner blades actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.  
  
“How’d you do that?” Jason asked.  
  
Leo shrugged. “Would’ve been cooler if I had some rubber bands.”  
  
“Seriously,” Jason said, to both of us this time. “are we friends?”  
  
“Last I checked.”

I just nodded, picking at my fingernails

“You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?”

 _We met the day I came into camp_ , I thought. _The day after my fifth birthday, after my cousin had disappeared and my mother dropped me off, too busy trying to make sense of what had happened to my aunt._

“It was...” Leo frowned. “I don’t recall exactly. I’m ADHD, man. You can’t expect me to remember details.”  
  
“But I don’t remember you at all. I don’t remember anyone here. What if-”  
  
“You’re right and everyone else is wrong?” Leo asked. “You think you just appeared here this morning, and we’ve all got fake memories of you?”  
  
_That's what happened,_ I wanted to say. The mist was woven too tightly for me to do anything about it, though. Everyone acted like he'd been here forever... Everyone except for the Coach.

Jason must've had the same thought as me, because he gave me the worksheet. "I'll be right back."  
  
Before Leo or I could protest, Jason headed across the skywalk.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason and the Coach both made a lot of hand gestures as they talked. Sadly, that's about the only thing I could get out of their conversation.

I glanced at Leo, who was tinkering with a new project, and made a split-second decision.

"Hey, I'm gonna go see if Jason's alright," I said before jogging over.

"-all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?”

Huh. So the Coach _was_ a faun.

Hedge narrowed his eyes.  
  
“Look, kid,” he said, “I don’t know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect four of you rather than three. Are you the special package? Is that it?”  
  
“What are you talking about?”  
  
Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.  
  
“This morning,” Hedge said, “I got a message from camp."

"Camp?" I asked, finally joining them.

"Camp Half-Blood. A safe place for demigods. They'll explain it all when you get there. Anyway, they said an extraction team is on the way. They’re coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn’t give me details. I thought to myself, _Fine_. The three I’m watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they’re being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that’s why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?”

Jason stumbled, and I caught him. "Whoa, Jay, easy there."

"You say you got no memories, huh?" Coach Hedge concluded. "Fine. I’ll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We’ll let the director figure things out.”

“What director?” Jason said. “What camp?”  
  
“Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before-”  
  
Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.  
  
“I had to say something,” Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: “Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!”  
  
“I thought you said this thing was stable!” Jason shouted over the wind.  
  
“Under normal circumstances,” Hedge agreed, “which these aren’t. Come on!”

The storm churned into a miniature hurricane. Funnel clouds snaked toward the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish.  
  
Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Jason skidded across the slick floor.  
  
Leo lost his balance and almost toppled over the railing, but Jason grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.  
  
“Thanks, man!” Leo yelled.  
  
“Go, go, go!” said Coach Hedge.  
  
Piper and Dylan were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper’s snowboarding jacket was flapping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. She must’ve been freezing, but she looked calm and confident - telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.

The four of us ran toward them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight us, pushing us back.

Dylan and Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk.  
  
Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.  
  
“Dylan, help!” Piper shouted.  
  
Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm.  
  
“Sorry, Piper,” he said. “I’m done helping.”  
  
He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.  
  
“Piper!” Jason and I both tried to charge forward, but the wind was against us, and Coach Hedge pushed us back.  
  
“Coach,” I said, “let me go!”  
  
“Arabella, Jason, Leo, stay behind me,” the coach ordered. “This is my fight. I should’ve known that was our monster.”  
  
“What?” Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. “What monster?”  
  
The coach’s cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair were two bumps - like the knots cartoon characters get when they’re bonked on the head. Coach Hedge lifted his baseball bat - but it wasn’t a regular bat anymore. Somehow it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.  
  
Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. “Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy attack me! After all, you’re getting too old for this. Isn’t that why they retired you to this stupid school? I’ve been on your team the entire season, and you didn’t even know. You’re losing your nose, grandpa.”  
  
The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. “That’s it, cupcake. You’re going down.”  
  
“You think you can protect four half-bloods at once, old man?” Dylan laughed. “Good luck.”  
  
Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he’d been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.  
  
“Help!” he yelled up at them. “Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?”  
  
Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. “I don’t know who you are, kid, but I hope you’re good. Keep that thing busy” - he stabbed a thumb at Dylan - “while I get Leo.”  
  
“Get him how?” Jason demanded. “You going to fly?”  
  
“Not fly. Climb.” Hedge kicked off his shoes, revealing his goat hooves.  
  
“You’re a faun,” Jason said.  
  
“Satyr!” Hedge snapped. “Fauns are Roman. But we’ll talk about that later.”

I was heavily confused, but Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed toward the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way toward Leo.  
  
“Isn’t that cute!” Dylan turned toward Jason. “Now it’s your turn, boy.”  
  
Jason threw the club. It seemed useless with the winds so strong, but the club flew right at Dylan, even curving when he tried to dodge, and smacked him on the head so hard he fell to his knees.  
  
Piper wasn’t as dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Golden blood - ichor - trickled from his forehead.  
  
“Nice try, boy.” He glared at Jason. “But you’ll have to do better.”  
  
The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They backed away, watching in terror.  
  
Dylan’s body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, they would look exactly like this.  
  
“You’re a ventus,” Jason stammered. “A storm spirit.”  
  
Dylan’s laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. “I’m glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper I’ve known about for weeks. Would have killed them, except my mistress said to wait - they had a protector I didn't know of. I'm guessing that's you." He pointed straight at me. I pretended to cross my arms, but put my hands up my sleeves, ready to take out my twin daggers. Dylan just continued his evil monologue. "She also said a fourth was coming - someone special. She’ll reward me greatly for your death!”  
  
Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into venti - ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.  
  
Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club. Her face was pale, but she gave us a determined look, and I understood the message: _Keep their attention. I’ll brain them from behind._

Jason and I shared a look, and we got ready to charge.  
  
We never got the chance.  
  
Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Jason in the chest. He turned to me, and I yanked the daggers out of their sheaths just in time to use them to deflect the lighting off of me.

From the corner of my eye, I registered Coach Hedge climbing the cliff with Leo on his back. Piper tried to swing the club at the two other storm spirits, but it passed right through.

Before I could run to help her out, Jason croaked "Stop."  
  
He rose unsteadily to his feet.  
  
“How are you alive?” Dylan’s form flickered. “That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!”  
  
“My turn,” Jason said.  
  
He reached in his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. He then flipped it in the air like he’d done a thousand times before. He caught it in his palm, and suddenly he was holding a sword - a wickedly sharp double-edged weapon, made entirely out of gold - hilt, handle, and blade.  
  
Dylan snarled and backed up. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, “Well? Kill them!”  
  
The other storm spirits didn’t look happy with that order, but they flew at us, their fingers crackling with electricity.

Jason and I immediately turned our backs to each other. While my amnesiac best friend took care of the fist one, I jumped up and jammed both daggers hilt-deep into the second spirit. I tore through the vapor, all the way down to where I was kneeling, and it dissolved into gold power.  
  
Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if expecting his comrades to re-form, but their gold dust remains dispersed in the wind. “Impossible! Who are you, half-bloods?”  
  
Piper was so stunned she dropped her club. “Jason, how...?”  
  
Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour.  
  
“Spirits, fear me!” Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan.  
  
“Curse it!” he snapped at us. “Didn’t you leave some for me? I like a challenge!”  
  
Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks. “Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are - I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!”  
  
Dylan hissed at them, but Jason could see fear in his eyes. “You have no idea how many enemies you’ve awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win.”  
  
Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and we had to crouch to keep our balance.  
  
A hole opened in the clouds - a swirling vortex of black and silver.  
  
“The mistress calls me back!” Dylan shouted with glee. “And you, demigods, will come with me!”  
  
He lunged at Jason and me, but Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, Piper somehow managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. Leo, Jason, and the coach surged forward to help, but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. Jason and Coach Hedge landed on their butts. Jason’s sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on his side, dazed and groaning. Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan’s back and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.  
  
Jason started toward her, but Dylan screamed, “I’ll settle for this one!”  
  
He grabbed Leo’s arm and began to rise, towing a half-conscious Leo below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner.  
  
“Help!” Piper yelled. “Somebody!”  
  
Then she slipped, screaming as she fell.  
  
“Jason, go!” I yelled. “Save her!”

Then Coach Hedge launched himself at Dylan with some serious goat fu - lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit’s grasp. Leo dropped safely into my waiting arms, but Dylan grappled the coach’s arms instead. Hedge tried to head-butt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose into the air, gaining speed.

As I gently laid Leo down, Jason finally jumped over the railing. When I looked over the side, he had Piper in his grasp. She yelped as they shot a few feet higher.

They exchanged a few words, and finally went up all they way, running to us as soon as they landed.

I tended to Leo. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least he wasn’t dead.  
  
“Stupid... ugly... goat,” he muttered.  
  
“Where did he go?” Piper asked.  
  
Leo pointed straight up. “Never came down. Please tell me he didn’t actually save my life.”  
  
“Twice,” I said, tucking my daggers back into their sheaths.  
  
Leo groaned even louder. “What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword, your daggers... I hit my head. That’s it, right? I’m hallucinating?”  
  
Jason walked over to where Julius was lying and picked it up. He flipped it, and mid-spin, the sword shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.  
  
“Yep,” Leo said. “Definitely hallucinating.”  
  
Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. “Jason, those things—”  
  
“Venti,” he said. “Storm spirits.”  
  
“Okay. You acted like... like you’d seen them before. Who are you?”  
  
He shook his head. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I don’t know.”  
  
The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guards were working on the locks now, but they didn’t seem to be having any luck.  
  
“Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people,” Jason remembered. “I think he meant us.”  
  
“And that thing Dylan turned into...” Piper shuddered. “God, I can’t believe it was hitting on me. He called us... what, demigods?”  
  
Leo lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn’t seem anxious to get up. “Don’t know what demi means,” he said. “But I’m not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?”  
  
There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.  
  
“We need to get off this thing,” I said. “Maybe if we-”  
  
“Ohhh-kay,” Leo interrupted. “Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses.”  
  
I looked up and saw a dark shape descending from the east - too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer I could see a pair of winged animals - gray, four-legged, exactly like horses - except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. Pegasi. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.  
  
“Reinforcements,” Jason said. “Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us.”  
  
“Extraction squad?” Leo struggled to his feet. “That sounds painful.”  
  
“And where are they extracting us to?” Piper asked.

"He mentioned a camp," I remembered.

The chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot - a tall blond girl maybe a little older than me, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward my group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.  
  
“Where is he?” she demanded.

“Where’s who?” Jason asked.  
  
She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo and Piper. “What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?”  
  
The coach’s first name was Gleeson? I might’ve laughed if he hadn't just been taken. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?  
  
Leo cleared his throat. “He got taken by some... tornado things.”  
  
“Venti,” I said. “Storm spirits.”  
  
The blond girl arched an eyebrow. “You mean _anemoi thuellai_? That’s the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?”  
  
Jason did his best to explain, though he was obviously intimidated by the girl. About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at us, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.  
  
When Jason had finished his story, the blond girl didn’t look satisfied. “No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I’d find the answer.”  
  
“Annabeth,” the bald guy grunted. “Check it out.” He pointed at Jason’s feet.  
  
I hadn’t thought much about it, but Jason was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His bare foot looked like a lump of charcoal.  
  
“The guy with one shoe,” said the bald dude. “He’s the answer.”  
  
“No, Butch,” the girl insisted. “He can’t be. I was tricked.” She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. “What do you want from me?” she screamed. “What have you done with him?”  
  
The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.  
  
“Annabeth,” said the bald dude, Butch, “we gotta leave. Let’s get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back.”  
  
She fumed for a moment. “Fine.” She fixed us with a resentful look. “We’ll settle this later.”  
  
She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.  
  
Piper shook her head. “What’s her problem? What’s going on?”  
  
“Seriously,” Leo agreed.  
  
“We have to get you out of here,” Butch said. “I’ll explain on the way.”  
  
“I’m not going anywhere with her.” Jason gestured toward the blonde. “She looks like she wants to kill me.”  
  
Butch hesitated. “Annabeth’s okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem.”  
  
“What problem?” Piper asked.  
  
“She’s been looking for one of our campers, who’s been missing three days,” Butch said. “She’s going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he’d be here.”  
  
“Who?” Jason asked.  
  
“Her boyfriend,” Butch said. “A guy named Percy Jackson.”


	3. Chapter 3

I stood in back of the chariot with Piper, Leo and Jason, while the bald guy, Butch, handled the reins, and the blond girl, Annabeth, adjusted a bronze navigation device. They rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, icy wind ripping straight through my sweater. Behind us, more storm clouds were gathering.  
  
The chariot lurched and bumped. It had no seat belts and the back was wide open, but I wasn't worried. I knew Jason could catch me if I fell. I glanced over at the boy in question. I knew his body language well enough to see that he was nervous, and confused - all to be expected, of course, when your memories are gone.  
  
“This is so cool!” Leo interrupted my train of thought. He spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth. “Where are we going?”  
  
“A safe place,” Annabeth said. “The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood.”

 _How come we never knew about this?_ I wondered. _They obviously didn't know about Camp Jupiter._  
  
“Half-Blood?” Piper was immediately on guard. “Is that some kind of bad joke?”  
  
“She means we’re demigods,” Jason said. “Half god, half mortal.”  
  
Annabeth looked back. “You seem to know a lot, Jason. But, yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess.”  
  
Leo choked. “Your mom is a rainbow goddess?”  
  
“Got a problem with that?” Butch said.  
  
“No, no,” Leo said. “Rainbows. Very macho.”  
  
“Butch is our best equestrian,” Annabeth said. “He gets along great with the pegasi.”  
  
“Rainbows, ponies,” Leo muttered.  
  
“I’m gonna toss you off this chariot,” Butch warned.

"Wait, how does that work with Athena's vows?" I asked.  
  
“Demigods,” Piper said, before Annabeth could answer me. “You mean you think you’re... you think we’re-”  
  
Lightning flashed. The chariot shuddered, and Jason yelled, “Left wheel’s on fire!”  
  
I stepped back. Sure enough, the wheel was burning, white flames lapping up the side of the chariot.  
  
The wind roared. I glanced behind us and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot - except these looked more like horses than angels.  
  
Piper started to say, “Why are they-”  
  
“ _Anemoi_ come in different shapes,” Annabeth said. “Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Hold on. This is going to get rough.”  
  
Butch flicked the reins. The pegasi put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. My stomach crawled into my throat. My vision went black, and when it came back to normal, we were in a totally different place.

A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread to the right. Directly below us was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. I saw a cluster of buildings like ancient Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire. But before I could really process all I was seeing, our wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky.  
  
Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control. The pegasi labored to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they seemed exhausted from their burst of speed, and bearing the chariot and the weight of six people was just too much.  
  
“The lake!” Annabeth yelled. “Aim for the lake!”  
  
 _BOOM_.  
  
The biggest shock was the cold. I was underwater, so disoriented that I didn’t know which way was up.  
  
I just had time to think: _All those quests, and_ this _is how I die?_ Then faces appeared in the green murk - girls with long black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They smiled at me, grabbed my shoulders, and hauled me up.  
  
They tossed me, gasping and shivering, onto the shore. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. Jason, Leo, Piper and Annabeth were already on shore, surrounded by kids giving them blankets and asking questions. Somebody took me by the arms and helped me stand. Apparently kids fell into the lake a lot, because a detail of campers ran up with big bronze leaf blower–looking things and blasted me with hot air; and in about two seconds my clothes were dry.  
  
There were at least twenty campers milling around - the youngest maybe nine, the oldest college age, eighteen or nineteen - and all of them had orange T-shirts like Annabeth’s. I looked back at the water and saw the water nymphs just below the surface, their hair floating in the current. They waved like, _toodle-oo,_ and disappeared into the depths. A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed nearby with a wet crunch.  
  
“Annabeth!” A guy with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd. “I said you could _borrow_ the chariot, not _destroy_ it!”  
  
“Will, I’m sorry,” Annabeth sighed. “I’ll get it fixed, I promise.”  
  
Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up me, Piper, Leo, and Jason. “These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven’t they been claimed already?”  
  
“Claimed?” Leo asked.  
  
Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, “Any sign of Percy?”  
  
“No,” Annabeth admitted.  
  
The campers muttered. I had no idea who this guy Percy was, but his disappearance seemed to be a big deal.  
  
Another girl stepped forward - tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She glanced at me and Leo, fixed her eyes on Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at Piper as if she were a week-old burrito that had just been pulled out of a Dumpster.  
  
“Well,” she finally said, “I hope they’re worth the trouble.”  
  
Leo snorted. “Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?”  
  
“No kidding,” Jason said. “How about some answers before you start judging us - like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?”  
  
“Jason,” Annabeth said, “I promise we’ll answer your questions. And Drew” - she frowned at the glamour girl - “all demigods are worth saving. But I’ll admit, the trip didn’t accomplish what I hoped.”  
  
“Hey,” Piper said, “we didn’t ask to be brought here.”  
  
Drew sniffed. “And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?”  
  
Piper stepped forward, ready to smack her, but Annabeth said, “Piper, stop.”  
  
Piper did. She probably wasn’t a bit scared of Drew, but Annabeth didn’t seem like somebody anyone wanted for an enemy.  
  
“We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome,” Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Drew. “We’ll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they’ll be claimed.”  
  
“Would somebody tell me what claimed means?” Piper asked.  
  
Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away. I turned to Leo to see my suspicions for his heritage confirmed. Floating over Leo’s head was a blazing holographic image - a fiery hammer.  
  
“That,” Annabeth said, “is claiming.”  
  
“What’d I do?” Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. “Is my hair on fire?” He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.  
  
“This can’t be good,” Butch muttered. “The curse-”  
  
“Butch, shut up,” Annabeth said. “Leo, you’ve just been claimed-”  
  
“By a god,” Jason interrupted. “That’s the symbol of Vulcan, isn’t it?”  
  
All eyes turned to him.  
  
“Jason,” Annabeth said carefully, “how did you know that?”  
  
“I’m not sure.”  
  
“Vulcan?” Leo demanded. “I don’t even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?”  
  
“Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus,” Annabeth said, “the god of blacksmiths and fire.”

So they _did_ worship the Greek versions of the gods... I feared for this camp once Octavian would find out.  
  
The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. “The god of what? Who?”  
  
Annabeth turned to the guy with the bow. “Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine.”  
  
“Sure, Annabeth.”  
  
“What’s Cabin Nine?” Leo asked. “And I’m not a Vulcan!”  
  
“Come on, Mr. Spock, I’ll explain everything.” Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.  
  
Annabeth turned her attention back to Jason and studied him like he was a complicated blueprint. Finally she said, “Hold out your arm.”  
  
I saw what she was looking at, and my eyes widened.  
  
Jason had taken off his windbreaker after his dip in the lake, leaving his arms bare, and on the inside of his right forearm was a tattoo.

 _Shit_.

His tattoo had a dozen straight lines like a bar code - three years of service more than my nine - and over that an eagle with the letters SPQR. The eagle stood for Jupiter, of course, Jason's father, but it was the Roman motto that worried me. Annabeth was smart; what if she connected the dots, and decided Jason was an enemy?

“I’ve never seen marks like this,” she said. “Where did you get them?”  
  
Jason shook his head. “I’m getting really tired of saying this, but I don’t know.”  
  
The other campers pushed forward, trying to get a look at Jason’s tattoo. The marks seemed to bother them a lot - almost like a declaration of war. I was suddenly very glad I hadn't taken off my sweater, and my own tattoo was concealed.  
  
“They look burned into your skin,” Annabeth noticed.  
  
“They were,” Jason said. Then he winced as if his head was aching. “I mean... I think so. I don’t remember.”  
  
No one said anything. It was clear the campers saw Annabeth as the leader. They were waiting for her verdict.  
  
“He needs to go straight to Chiron,” Annabeth decided. “Drew, would you-”  
  
“Absolutely.” Drew laced her arm through Jason’s. “This way, sweetie. I’ll introduce you to our director. He’s... an interesting guy.” She flashed us a smug look and led Jason toward the big blue house on the hill.  
  
The crowd began to disperse, until only Annabeth and Piper were left.

"Chiron is your leader?" I asked Annabeth. She nodded.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"I need to speak to him - privately."

The daughter of Athena nodded, unsure, and I jogged to catch up to Jason and Drew.


	4. Chapter 4

When I caught up to Jason and Drew, they were already at the blue house.  
  
“Here we are!” Drew said cheerfully. “The Big House, camp headquarters.”

Every molecule in my body told me I was on enemy ground.  
  
The house didn’t look threatening, just a four-story manor painted baby blue with white trim. The wraparound porch had lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. Wind chimes shaped like nymphs turned into trees as they spun. I could imagine old people coming here for summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watched the sunset. Still, the windows seemed to glare down at me like angry eyes. The wide-open doorway looked ready to swallow me. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and pointed straight in my direction, as if telling me to turn around.  
  
“I am not supposed to be here,” Jason said, voicing both of our thoughts.  
  
Drew circled her arm through his. “Oh, please. You’re perfect here, sweetie. Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of heroes.”

In the nine years I'd known Jason, I'd never seen him look this uncomfortable.  
  
He slipped his arm away gently. “Look, I appreciate-”  
  
“Is it that girl?” Drew pouted. “Oh, please, tell me you are not dating the Dumpster Queen.”  
  
“You mean Piper? Um...” He glanced at me, probably for help, but Drew mistook the gesture.

"Her? Are you kidding me? She looks like she has braided hay for hair!" I looked down at my side braids, and realized they _were_ looking pretty ratty from the venti fight and the chariot ride.

Drew rolled her eyes and turned back to Jason. “Let me help you decide, sweetie. You can do better. A guy with your looks and obvious talent?”  
  
She wasn’t looking at him, though. She was staring at a spot right above his head.  
  
“You’re waiting for a sign,” he guessed. “Like what popped over Leo’s head.”  
  
“What? No! Well... yes. I mean, from what I heard, you’re pretty powerful, right? You’re going to be important at camp, so I figure your parent will claim you right away. And I’d love to see that. I wanna be with you every step of the way! So is your dad or mom the god? Please tell me it’s not your mom. I would hate it if you were an Aphrodite kid.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Then you’d be my half brother, silly. You can’t date somebody from your own cabin. Yuck!”  
  
“But aren’t all the gods related?” Jason asked. “So isn’t everyone here your cousin or something?”  
  
“Aren’t you cute! Sweetie, the godly side of your family doesn’t count except for your parent. So anybody from another cabin - they’re fair game. So who’s your godly parent - mom or dad?”

Jason looked above his own head, and the expression he was wearing made me want to take his hand like we were little kids again.  
  
Then I heard footsteps on the front porch. No - not footsteps - hooves.  
  
“Chiron!” Drew called. “This is Jason. He’s totally awesome! And this is...” She trailed off, not even knowing my name, but before I could step in and say it, I saw the director.  
  
Jason backed up so fast he almost tripped. Rounding the corner of the porch was a man on horseback. Except he wasn’t on horseback - he was part of the horse. From the waist up he was human, with curly brown hair and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a T-shirt that said World’s Best Centaur, and had a quiver and bow strapped to his back. His head was so high up he had to duck to avoid the porch lights, because from the waist down, he was a white stallion.  
  
Chiron started to smile at us. Then the color drained from his face.  
  
“You...” The centaur’s eyes flared like a cornered animal’s. “You should be dead.”  
  
Chiron ordered us - well, invited, but it sounded like an order - to come inside the house. He told Drew to go back to her cabin, which Drew didn’t look happy about.  
  
The centaur trotted over to the empty wheelchair on the porch. He slipped off his quiver and bow and backed up to the chair, which opened like a magician’s box. Chiron gingerly stepped into it with his back legs and began scrunching himself into a space that should’ve been much too small. I imagined a truck’s reversing noises - _beep, beep, beep_ \- as the centaur’s lower half disappeared and the chair folded up, popping out a set of fake human legs covered in a blanket, so Chiron appeared to be a regular mortal guy in a wheelchair.  
  
“Follow me,” he ordered. “We have lemonade.”

"Well, if you say it like that," I joked slightly to ease Jason's obvious tension. He looked at me, and - seemingly on instinct, which warmed my heart - took my hand and intertwined our fingers. I took a deep breath, and we stepped inside.  
  
The living room looked like it had been swallowed by a rain forest. Grapevines curved up the walls and across the ceiling, which I found a little strange. I didn’t think plants grew like that inside, especially in the winter, but these were leafy green and bursting with bunches of red grapes.  
  
Leather couches faced a stone fireplace with a crackling fire. Wedged in one corner, an old-style Pac-Man arcade game beeped and blinked. Mounted on the walls was an assortment of masks - smiley/frowny Greek theater types, feathered Mardi Gras masks, Venetian Carnevale masks with big beaklike noses, carved wooden masks from Africa. Grapevines grew through their mouths so they seemed to have leafy tongues. Some had red grapes bulging through their eyeholes.  
  
But the weirdest thing was the stuffed leopard’s head above the fireplace. It looked so real, its eyes seemed to follow us. Then it snarled, and I nearly leaped out of my skin.  
  
“Now, Seymour,” Chiron chided. “These are friends. Behave yourself.”  
  
“That thing is alive!” Jason said.  
  
Chiron rummaged through the side pocket of his wheelchair and brought out a package of Snausages. He threw one to the leopard, who snapped it up and licked his lips.  
  
“You must excuse the décor,” Chiron said. “All this was a parting gift from our old director before he was recalled to Mount Olympus. He thought it would help us to remember him. Mr. D has a strange sense of humor.”  
  
“Mr. D,” Jason said. “Dionysus?”  
  
“Mmm hmm.” Chiron poured lemonade, though his hands were trembling a little. “As for Seymour, well, Mr. D liberated him from a Long Island garage sale. The leopard is Mr. D’s sacred animal, you see, and Mr. D was appalled that someone would stuff such a noble creature. He decided to grant it life, on the assumption that life as a mounted head was better than no life at all. I must say it’s a kinder fate than Seymour’s previous owner got.”  
  
Seymour bared his fangs and sniffed the air, as if hunting for more Snausages.  
  
“If he’s only a head,” I said, “where does the food go when he eats?”  
  
“Better not to ask,” Chiron said. “Please, sit.”  
  
Jason took some lemonade, though from the look on his face I knew he had no intention of drinking it. Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and tried for a smile, but I could tell it was forced. The old man’s eyes were as deep and dark as wells.  
  
“So, Jason,” he said, “would you mind telling me - ah - where you’re from?”  
  
“I wish I knew.” Jason told him the whole story, from waking up on the bus to crash-landing at Camp Half-Blood. Chiron was a good listener. He didn’t react to the story, other than to nod encouragingly for more.  
  
When Jason was done, the old man sipped his lemonade.  
  
“I see,” Chiron said. “And you must have questions for me.”  
  
“Only one,” Jason admitted. “What did you mean when you said that I should be dead?”  
  
Chiron studied him with concern, as if he expected Jason to burst into flames. “My boy, do you know what those marks on your arm mean? The color of your shirt? Do you remember anything?”

So he _does_ know. That hopefully meant I could discuss this with him, right?  
  
Jason looked at the tattoo on his forearm: SPQR, the eagle, twelve straight lines.  
  
“No,” he said. “Nothing.”  
  
“Do you know where you are?” Chiron asked. “Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?”

“You’re Chiron the centaur,” Jason said. “I’m guessing you’re the same one from the old stories, who used to train the Greek heroes like Heracles. This is a camp for demigods, children of the Olympian gods.”  
  
“So you believe those gods still exist?”  
  
“Yes,” Jason said immediately. “I mean, I don’t think we should worship them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they’re still around because they’re a powerful part of civilization. They move from country to country as the center of power shifts - like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome.”  
  
“I couldn’t have said it better.” Something about Chiron’s voice had changed. “So you already know the gods are real. You have already been claimed, haven’t you?”  
  
“Maybe,” Jason answered. “I’m not really sure.”  
  
Seymour the leopard snarled.  
  
Chiron waited, and I realized what had just happened. The centaur had switched to another language and we both had understood, with Jason automatically answering in the same tongue.  
  
“ _Quis erat_ -” Jason faltered, then made a conscious effort to speak English. “What was that?”  
  
“You know Latin,” Chiron observed. “Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It’s in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practice.”

That did _not_ make Jason feel better. It reflected in his eyes.  
  
The fire reflected in Chiron’s eyes, making them dance fretfully. “I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason. He had a hard path. I’ve seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don’t. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you - you are not like any pupil I’ve ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster.”

He glanced over to me, unnoticed by Jason, who was looking down to his lemonade. I shook my head, and mouthed 'later'.  
  
“Thanks,” Jason finally said. “You must be an inspiring teacher.”  
  
“I am sorry, my boy. But it’s true. I had hoped that after Percy’s success-”  
  
“Percy Jackson, you mean. Annabeth’s boyfriend, the one who’s missing.”  
  
Chiron nodded. “I hoped that after he succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come.”  
  
In the corner, the arcade game made a sad pew-pew-pew-pew sound, like a Pac-Man had just died. My mind was racing a thousand miles per second - what happened for them in the Titan War? We didn't see anyone else at Mount Tam when we were there...  
  
“Ohh-kay,” Jason said, snapping me back to reality. “So - last chapter, happened before, worst yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we go back to the part where I’m supposed to be dead? I don’t like that part.”  
  
“I’m afraid I can’t explain, my boy. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never...” Chiron frowned. “But you’re here, in violation of the same oath. That too, should not be possible. I don’t understand. Who would’ve done such a thing? Who-”  
  
Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth froze, half open. The arcade game stopped beeping. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardening like red glass. The masks stared down silently at us with their grotesque grape eyes and leafy tongues.  
  
“Chiron?” Jason asked. “What’s going-”  
  
The old centaur had frozen, too. Jason jumped off the couch, but Chiron kept staring at the same spot, his mouth open mid-sentence. His eyes didn’t blink. His chest didn’t move.  
  
 _Jason, Arabella_ , a voice said.  
  
For a horrible moment, I thought the leopard had spoken. Then dark mist boiled out of Seymour’s mouth, and an even worse thought occurred to me: storm spirits.  
  
Jason grabbed the golden coin from his pocket. With a quick flip, it changed into a sword. I yanked my daggers out of their sheaths.  
  
The mist took the form of a woman in black robes. Her face was hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders she wore a goatskin cloak. I wasn’t sure how I knew it was goatskin, but I recognized it and knew it was important.  
  
 _Would you attack your patron, Jason?_ the woman chided. Her voice echoed in my head - I'm guessing it did for him too. _Lower your weapons, children._  
  
“Who are you?” he demanded. “How did you-”  
  
 _Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I’ve managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you._  
  
“You’re in prison?” Jason decided maybe he wouldn’t lower his sword. “Look, I don’t know you, and you’re not my patron.”  
  
 _You know me,_ she insisted. _I have known you since your birth._  
  
“I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything.”  
  
 _No, you don’t,_ she agreed. _That also was necessary. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favorite mortal. You belong to me._  
  
“Whoa,” Jason said. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

 _Now is the time to pay your debt,_ she said. _Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory._  
  
“Is that a threat? You took my memories?”

 _And you, Arabella, you shall help him. Guide him. Protect_ _him._ She flickered. _You have until sunset on the solstice, children. Four short days. Do not fail me._  
  
The dark woman dissolved, and the mist curled into the leopard’s mouth.  
  
Time unfroze. Seymour’s howl turned into a cough like he’d sucked in a hair ball. The fire crackled to life, the arcade machine beeped, and Chiron said, “-would dare to bring you here?”  
  
“Probably the lady in the mist,” Jason offered.  
  
Chiron looked up in surprise. “Weren’t you just sitting... why do you have your weapons drawn?”  
  
“I hate to tell you this,” Jason said, “but I think your leopard just ate a goddess.”  
  
He told Chiron about the frozen-in-time visit, the dark misty figure that disappeared into Seymour’s mouth.  
  
“Oh, dear,” Chiron murmured. “That does explain a lot.”  
  
“Then why don’t you explain a lot to me?” Jason said. “Please.”  
  
Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, a redhead, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper’s head lolled like she was unconscious.  
  
“What happened?” Jason rushed over. “What’s wrong with her?”  
  
“Hera’s cabin,” Annabeth gasped, like they’d run all the way. “Vision. Bad.”  
  
The redheaded girl looked up, and Jason saw that she’d been crying.  
  
“I think...” The redheaded girl gulped. “I think I may have killed her.”


End file.
